Secretary of State Brad Winter cleared the Republican candidate seeking to fill his seat of six allegations filed against her in an ethics complaint last month.

Those six allegations, filed by state Democratic Party Treasurer Robert Lara, accused candidate Nora Espinoza of multiple violations of the New Mexico Campaign Reporting Act. Lara, an attorney, previously told NM Political Report that he filed the ethics complaint as a private citizen and not on behalf of the Democratic Party.

While Winter dismissed all of the allegations, his office did give guidance to Espinoza on addressing some issues.

“Although we do not find any violations of the [Campaign Reporting] Act, the Espinoza campaign is cautioned to ensure that all campaign reports submitted in the future accurately reflect the name and purpose of all expenditures and in-kind contributions,” Winter wrote.

On the complaint, Lara accused Espinoza of not properly disclosing campaign expenses that she used to reimburse her personal credit card. Winter wrote that Espinoza’s listing of these expenses as “Citi Cards” does not violate state statute, he still described this practice as a “concern.”

“While Ms. Espinoza listed who payment [sic] was made to, ‘Citi Cards,’ we believe the intent of the statute is to identify the vendor to whom the expenditure was made,” Winter wrote.

Espinoza, he wrote, “should provide the greatest information possible” in her reports “including but not limited to the specific vendor to whom the expenditure was made.”

Another of Lara’s complaints accused Espinoza of not properly naming the occupations of some of her donors and instead writing “businessman” or “business owner.”

Winter didn’t find this violated state law because the Campaign Reporting Act “does not define the word ‘occupation.’”

“However, in an effort to promote transparency, the Campaign should provide the greatest information possible when reporting the occupation of type of business operated by a donor,” Winter wrote.

In both of those cases, Winter encouraged Espinoza to amend her campaign finance reports.

Winter didn’t provide similar guidance on his dismissal of the rest of Lara’s complaints, which accused Espinoza of using her campaign money for personal business, not reporting a purpose for some of her campaign expenses, not reporting one donor per donation and not reporting an alleged in-kind contribution from state Rep. Zach Cook, R-Ruidoso, who filed an ethics complaint against her Democratic Party opponent Maggie Toulouse Oliver.

Ryan Zinke will step down from his post as Interior secretary, President Donald Trump announced Saturday. “Secretary of the Interior @RyanZinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years,” Trump wrote in a tweet. In a second tweet, Trump said he plans to announce a replacement in the coming days. In a resignation letter obtained by the Associated Press, Zinke attributed his departure to “vicious and politically motivated attacks.”
Zinke, a former Montana congressman and Navy SEAL, oversaw much of the Trump administration’s energy dominance agenda, including the ramp up of public lands oil and gas leasing and the rollback of environmental protections.

Correction: In referencing a Ms. article from 2011, this story originally said that Chris Garcia was one of the operators of an allegedly illegal website, Southwest Companions. Garcia was charged by police of being an operator of the site, which they alleged was a house of prostitution, but a state district court judge threw out all the charges.

A Secretary of State candidate is accusing her opponent of an ethics violation for campaign contributions in 2014 from PACs unconnected to the campaign. Nora Espinoza, the Republican candidate, says that Maggie Toulouse Oliver, the Democrat, violated ethics rules when a donation from Verde Voters PAC paid money to another PAC, SOS for Democracy, earmarked for “TV ad buy--Maggie Toulouse Oliver.”
Both PACs are unconnected to the Toulouse Oliver campaign.

The field is set for the 2018 state House primaries, with eight incumbents not filing for reelection and several others facing potentially competitive challenges either in the primary or the general election. Still, there are 26 candidates, all incumbents, who face no opposition in either the primary or general election.

On the surface, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s proposed changes to campaign finance reporting rules appear to be a wonky topic. But to some outspoken opponents it’s a free speech violation.

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Joey Peters has been a journalist for nearly a decade. Most recently, his reporting in New Mexico on closed government policies earned several accolades. Peters has also worked as a reporter in Washington DC and the Twin Cities. Contact him by phone at (505) 226-3197.